Tea Musings

My internet connection has been spitty for a week, losing hours every day.  The Poetry Fishbowl is open, but don't panic if the response rate is slower than usual.  Figure it will close around 3 AM if I can't post closure.


Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "Older Scenes and Forgotten Characters." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.

I'll be soliciting ideas for characters we haven't seen in a while, dimensional travelers, time travelers, man out of time, alternate self, historians, futurists, explorers, inventors, quantum mechanics, quantum physicists, mad scientists, partners, teachers, clergy, leaders, superheroes, supervillains, teammates, alien or fantasy species, failure analysts, ethicists, activists, rebels, other remnant characters, revisiting older scenes, filling in details, missing scenes, learning from the past, moving on to the next scene, researching, revising theories, teaching, adventuring, leaving your comfort zone, discovering things, conducting experiments, observation changing experiments, troubleshooting, improvising, adapting, cleaning up messes, cooperating, bartering, taking over in an emergency, saving the day, discovering yourself, studying others, testing boundaries, coming of age, learning what you can (and can't) do, sharing, preparing for the worst, expecting the unexpected, fixing what's broke, upsetting the status quo, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, recovering from setbacks, returning home, older storylines and series, the multiverse (quantum physics), the multiverse (F&SF), landing pads, world portals, liminal zones, schools, churches, libraries, laboratories, supervillain lairs, makerspaces, nonhuman accommodations and adaptations, starships, alien planets, magical lands, foreign dimensions, mysterious storms, crystal balls and other magical scrying devices, chronoscopes and other technological scrying devices, psychohistory (academic), psychohistory (science fiction), puzzling discoveries, sudden surprises, travel mishaps, the buck stops here, trial and error, weird food, secret ingredients, supplements that turn out to be metagenic, intercultural entanglements, asking for help and getting it, strange loops, fix-its, enemies to friends/lovers, lab conditions are not field conditions, superpower manifestation, the end of where your framework actually applies, ethics, innovation, problems that can't be solved by hitting, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.


Currently eligible bingo card(s) for donors wishing to sponsor a square:

Greek Myth Fest Bingo Card 5-1-26


Among my more relevant series for the main theme:

An Army of One features the autistic secession in space.

Arts and Crafts America is largely about using crafts to solve problems.

The Bear Tunnels is about time travel to early colonial New England.

The Blueshift Troupers travel space to help planets in distress.

A Conflagration of Dragons involves civilization collapse.

Daughters of the Apocalypse is mostly about poor, brown, nonmale, queer, and/or disabled people.

Eloquent Souls features soulmates and soulmarks.

Feathered Nests is science fiction about avian aliens with unusual sex/gender dynamics.

Fledgling Grace has a mortal realm, an angelic realm, a demonic realm.

Hart's Farm is a Swedish free-love commune.

The Hollow Way features various mystical occurrences including strange travel paths, but the series is apparently unpublished.

Kande's Quest has a mortal realm and a demonic realm.

Monster House includes a variety of unusual characters.

Not Quite Kansas has an angelic realm, a demonic realm, and two versions of a mortal realm.

The Ocracies is a fantasy setting with diverse political systems.

One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis has a mortal realm and a divine realm.

Path of the Paladins has a mortal realm and a divine realm.

P.I.E. is urban fantasy with a disabled hera.

Schrodinger's Heroes is all about trying to save the world from alternate dimensions.

The Steamsmith features a black, genderqueer, British steampunk engineer.

The Time Towers compares time travel to Jenga.

Tripping into the Future is about one-way time travel and its consequences.

Walking the Beat is lesbian romance.

Shorter series appear on the Serial Poetry page.

Or you can ask for something new.

Linkbacks reveal a verse of any open linkback poem.


What Is a Poetry Fishbowl?

Writing is usually considered a solitary pursuit. One exception to this is a fascinating exercise called a "fishbowl." This has various forms, but all of them basically involve some kind of writing in public, usually with interaction between author and audience. A famous example is Harlan Ellison's series of "stories under glass" in which he sits in a bookstore window and writes a new story based on an idea that someone gives him. Writing classes sometimes include a version where students watch each other write, often with students calling out suggestions which are chalked up on the blackboard for those writing to use as inspiration.

In this online version of a Poetry Fishbowl, I begin by setting a theme; today's theme is "Older Scenes and Forgotten Characters." I invite people to suggest characters, settings, and other things relating to that theme. Then I use those prompts as inspiration for writing poems.


Cyberfunded Creativity

I'm practicing cyberfunded creativity. If you enjoy what I'm doing and want to see more of it, please feed the Bard. The following options are currently available:

1) Sponsor the Fishbowl -- Here is a PayPal button for donations. There is no specific requirement, but $1 is the minimum recommended size for PayPal transactions since they take a cut from every one. You can also donate via check or money order sent by postal mail. If you make a donation and tell me about it, I promise to use one of your prompts. Anonymous donations are perfectly welcome, just won't get that perk. General donations will be tallied, and at the end of the fishbowl I’ll post a list of eligible poems based on the total funding; then the audience can vote on which they want to see posted.

2) Swim, Fishie, Swim! -- A feature in conjunction with fishbowl sponsorship is this progress meter showing the amount donated. There are multiple perks, the top one being a half-price poetry sale on one series when donations reach $300.



3) Buy It Now! -- Gakked from various e-auction sites, this feature allows you to sponsor a specific poem. If you don't want to wait for some editor to buy and publish my poem so you can read it, well, now you don't have to. Sponsoring a poem means that I will immediately post it on my blog for everyone to see, with the name of the sponsor (or another dedicate) if you wish; plus you get a nonexclusive publication right, so you can post it on your own blog or elsewhere as long as you keep the credits intact. You'll need to tell me the title of the poem you want to sponsor. I'm basing the prices on length, and they're comparable to what I typically make selling poetry to magazines (semi-pro rates according to Duotrope's Digest).

0-10 lines: $5
11-25 lines: $10
26-40 lines: $15
41-60 lines: $20
Poems over 60 lines, or with very intricate structure, fall into custom pricing.

4) Commission a scrapbook page. I can render a chosen poem in hardcopy format, on colorful paper, using archival materials for background and any embellishments. This will be suitable for framing or for adding to a scrapbook. Commission details are here. See latest photos of sample scrapbooked poems: "Sample Scrapbooked Poems 1-24-11"

5) Spread the word. Echo or link to this post on your Dreamwidth, other blog, Twitter, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, or any other social network. Useful Twitter hashtags include #poetryfishbowl and #promptcall. Encourage people to come here and participate in the fishbowl. If you have room for it, including your own prompt will give your readers an idea of what the prompts should look like; ideally, update later to include the thumbnail of the poem I write, and a link to the poem if it gets published. If there is at least one new prompter or donor, I will post an extra freebie poem.

Linkback perk: Linkbacks reveal a verse of any open linkback poem. One person can do multiple links if they're on different services, like Dreamwidth or Twitter, rather than all on LiveJournal. Comment with a link to where you posted.


Additional Notes

1) I customarily post replies to prompt posts telling people which of their prompts I'm using, with a brief description of the resulting poem(s). If you want to know what's available, watch for those "thumbnails."

2) You don't have to pay me to see a poem based on a prompt that you gave me. I try to send copies of poems to people, mostly using the LJ message function. (Anonymous prompters will miss this perk unless you give me your eddress.) These are for-your-eyes-only, though, not for sharing.

3) After the Poetry Fishbowl concludes, I will post a list of unsold poems and their prices, to make it easier for folks to see what they might want to sponsor.

4) If donations total $100 by Sunday evening then you get a free $15 poem; $150 gets you a free $20 poem; and $200 gets you a free epic, posted after the Poetry Fishbowl. These will usually be series poems if I have them; otherwise I may offer non-series poems or series poems in a different size. If donations reach $250, you get one step toward a bonus fishbowl; four of these activates the perk, and they don't have to be four months in a row. Everyone will get to vote on which series, and give prompts during the extra fishbowl, although it may be a half-day rather than a whole day. If donations reach $300, there will be a half-price sale in one series.


Feed the Fish!
Now's your chance to participate in the creative process by posting ideas for me to write about. Today's theme is "Older Series and Forgotten Characters." See above for details. If you manage to recommend a form that I don't recognize, I will probably pounce on it and ask you for its rules. I do have The New Book of Forms by Lewis Turco which covers most common and many obscure forms.

I'll post at least one of the fishbowl poems here so you-all can enjoy it. (Remember, you get an extra freebie poem if someone new posts a prompt or makes a donation, and additional perks at $100-$300 in donations. Linkbacks reveal a verse of any open linkback poem.  The rest of the poems will go into my archive for future use.

Today is cloudy, mild, and damp. It rained a little earlier.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

I set out potted plants to get some sun.

EDIT 5/4/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 5/4/26 -- I planted the surviving squashes. I am dubious if any will survive, but maybe some of the cushaws will. They all sprouted and grew vigorously at first, but quickly started to die. Forget gaining 2-3 months by starting seeds indoors. However, if I had started them in April instead of March, that might have worked. Fortunately I still have more seeds, so I can also try direct sowing.

EDIT 5/4/26 -- I planted a northern red maple at the edge of the savanna.

I saw a male Baltimore oriole in the forest garden! :D 3q3q3q!!! I cut an orange in half and put it out for him. I've also seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a male cardinal, and a fox squirrel.

EDIT 5/4/26 -- I planted a 'Prairie Fire' dogwood in the west hedge of the savanna and put mulch around it.

EDIT 5/4/26 -- We broke up the big walnut branch in the savanna and hauled the bits to the firepit.

EDIT 5/4/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Today is Star Wars Day. May the Fourth be with you! Here are some ideas to celebrate it.

This year during Three Weeks for Dreamwidth, I'm writing about reading as a way of becoming an expert in a given subject. Read Part 1: Introduction to Becoming an Expert, Part 2: Architecture, Part 3: Dance, Part 4: Music, Part 5: Painting, Part 6: Poetry, Part 7: Sculpture, Part 8: Conflict Resolution, Part 9: Cooking.


Three Weeks for Dreamwidth Part 10: Coping Skills

Coping skills make up a toolkit for dealing with stress and challenges. Broad categories include distraction, grounding, emotional relief, self-love, thought challenge, and higher self. Different methods suit different kinds of difficulty. It is important to develop a wide variety of coping skills so that you have something to suit most issues you encounter. Here on Dreamwidth, consider awesomeers, birdfeeding, bloomandawaken, books, cherishchanges, gardening, goals_on_dw, journalsandplanners, recipecommunity, or thankfulthursday




( Read more... )

This year I've spotted multiple events and venues doing Three Weeks for Dreamwidth that are also banning Harry Potter and generative AI content. If someone wants to do this in their own event or venue, that's their choice. But when they do it in a way that makes it seem like a parameter of Three Weeks for Dreamwidth as a whole, that is not true and not okay. The one core activity of Three Weeks for Dreamwidth is blogging every day, on ANY topic.

( Read more... )

Why the U.S. struggles to track heat deaths and protect people from extreme temperatures

A new analysis has revealed that the United States cannot reliably count heat deaths or identify who must act when temperatures turn dangerous.

That failure can turn a clear forecast into a patchy response, leaving protection to depend on local records, budgets, and authority.


TL;DR -- People don't give a shit.

However, there are things that any individual, organization, or town can do about this even in the absence of effective government or societal action.

( Read more... )

Reducing air pollution has triggered something worse that scientists didn't predict

Scientists have determined that “marine cloud reflectivity,” caused by cleaner air, has dropped by roughly 2.8 percent per decade across the North Atlantic and Northeast Pacific.

Together, those regions span about one-seventh of the planet’s surface, making even small changes in brightness significant on a global scale.


A solution-caused problem. O_O Well, that sucks.